Sunday, December 28, 2008

Cooking Tips & Substitutions

Did you know that there are cooking tips and substitutions for just about all ingredient known to man? It is true. And knowing these will help you salvage a great dish when you run out of something that you need.

For many cooking tips and substitutions you will use what could be considered a cousin of the original ingredient. Normally, these ingredients will have at least some of the characteristics of the original. In some cases, the cooking tips and substitutions will require that you combine two or three offshoot ingredients to come up with something that will closely match what you are lacking.

Here are a some of the cooking tips and substitutions that most often occur:

Flour MagicIf you want self-rising flour and all you have is all purpose flour, simply add 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/8 teaspoon salt to each cup of all purpose flour.

Bread CrumbsWhen the recipe calls for 1 cup of bread crumbs but you do not have any bread crumbs, just use 3/4 cups of cracker crumbs.

Cracker CrumbsIf you need cracker crumbs but only have bread crumbs, use 1 1/4 cups of bread crumbs for each cup of cracker crumbs called for.

Baking Powder cooking tips and substitutionsWhen you run out of baking powder just use 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 5/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Another alternative is to use 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 cup buttermilk and reduce the liquid in the recipe by half cup.

ButtermilkIf you need buttermilk, you can replace the same amount needed with plain yogurt. You can also use 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice plus enough regular milk to make one cup.

ButterIf a recipe calls for butter, you could use shortening by using 7/8 cup shortening to replace each 1 cup of butter. You can also use 7/8 cup of vegetable oil.

Chocolate cooking tips and substitutionsFor one ounce of unsweetened chocolate called for in the recipe, use three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon butter. If you need semisweet chocolate, use 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate plus 1 tablespoon sugar.

Corn StarchYou could use 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour for each one tablespoon of corn starch needed.

Sour CreamIf you need sour cream in a pinch, you could use one cup of plain yogurt or you can use 3/4 cups of sour milk for each one cup of sour cream needed.

Lemon Juice cooking tips and substitutionsWhen you need a really fast replacement for lemon juice, use the same amount of vinegar as called for in the recipe.

These cooking tips and substitutions will help a lot when you most need it.

No indulgences of self will can be trivial, no denial unprofitable; Heaven or Hell depends on this alone. A parent who studies to subdue it in his child works together with God in the renewing and saving of their soul. The parent who indulges it does the devil's work, makes religion impractical, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, forever.